


Nebula Coffee: A Deep Dish Nine ficlet collection

by MadManMoody



Category: DD9 - Fandom, Deep Dish Nine - Fandom, Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager, dd9 - au, deep dish nine - au
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Deep Dish Nine, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other, everyone is human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 15:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3574139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadManMoody/pseuds/MadManMoody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of ficlets set in the same AU as Deep Dish Nine.<br/>Set in the Coffee Shop Nubula Coffe, owned and operated by AU versions of the crew of Voyager.<br/>Fun and Fluff~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was so inspired to make some little ficlets about this idea, so I did. Enjoy~

Kathryn frownedat the sign. She was not happy with it. She wanted something simple, and yet it seemed like her business partner had decided to go in a different direction with it.

“Chakotay, get your ass out here,” she called into the small café as she folded her arms across her chest.

Only a moment later the native American barista/business partner stepped out. His facial tattoo reminding Kathryn just how outside of the box this guy was.

“Chakotay, please tell me why my coffee shop’s sign now says ‘organic’ on it,” Kathryn demanded with a fain scowl as she gestured to the sign above the door which now read “Organic Nebula Coffee’.

“Because we only serve organic coffee,” Chakotay replied as if it were completely obvious.

“And since when do we serve only organic coffee?” Kathryn asked with a sigh.

“Since… I don’t know, forever?” Chakotyay said not sure why they even having this discussion.

“Look Chakotay, I’m trying to run a business. I want to provide the morning and break white-collar and blue-collar crowd with a nice cup of joe. The last thing I want to deal with is a never-ending stream of stoners and health food nuts,” Kathryn said with an angered sigh.

“So you want to give the yuppies their daily dose of caffeine?” Chakotay retorted, thinking he understood a little better.

“Look, it’s my name on the lease, the word has to go,” Kathryn said rolling her eyes.

“And the loan is in my name. A good chunk of the wait staff were hired by me and I want to serve only organic coffee,” Chakotay replied, a note of challenge in his voice.

“It would be most logical to just stick with the name on the business registration,” Tuvok said as he walked up the sidewalk with an espresso machine under his arm.

“The word goes,” Kathryn said as she strolled into the cafe with Tuvok to get the new espresso machine set up.

“Yeah yeah” Chakotay muttered as he grabbed the ladder from inside and peeled off the new sign that covered the old one. Nebula Coffee, what a pointless space age yuppie name.


	2. Chapter 2

For Harry Kim the worst thing about working at Nebula Coffee was making custom orders. He was never sure how to charge. When Mr. Chakotay was there, and Ms. Janeway was not all custom orders were no extra charge. When Ms. Janeway was there everything had to be meticulously kept track of, down to how many pumps of caramel creamer were used and each had a price attached to it, about 12 cents per pump to be exact.  
  
Harry was fine with both situations, but it seemed like he was always getting in trouble by one for doing it like the other wanted it done. In his mind it would have been so much simpler if the two would have just talked about it, but heaven knows they never talked about things, they argued about things.  
  
The only reason he didn’t quit was that his best friend worked there too. Tom Paris was the man Harry wished he could be. Tom had a fine vintage car and were he not strait Harry would have fantasied about doing stuff in that car.  
  
But Tom was strait and Tom thought Harry was strait, so things were what they were. Harry was in “the gay friend zone” and it was a combination of misery and not so bad.


	3. Chapter 3

For the few hours between her last class at high school and her night nursing class Kes loved to go to Nebula Coffee. She always got free coffee, didn’t really matter who the manager was at the time. Mr. Chakotay was like the uncle she never had and it seemed like Ms. Janeway had all but adopted her. If she ever had any trouble she knew she could rely on either one of them to help her out.

And then there was Mr. Tuvok. You could say she had a bit of a crush on him, despite the fact that he was married and more than a little older than her. She was pretty sure that it was him who always bought her the coffee and made sure it was waiting for her at her favorite table, the one in the corner.

She loved to sit there and sip her coffee while watching the people who came and went. It didn’t hurt that she knew the wifi password. She wished she could take her nursing classes online so she could stay longer, but that just wasn’t in the cards just then

Recently she had the feeling that Neelix, the eccentric baker who worked at the coffee shop, was crushing on her. Over the past few days she had found a new and bizarre muffin waiting with her cup of coffee.


	4. Chapter 4

Nebula Coffee was where Tuvok worked. That was about all he could say about it at any given time. It was where he worked. He didn’t hate it. He didn’t look forward to getting there any more than he looked forward to leaving. It paid well, though not so well that his wife’s income from her job as a drafting engineer did not help a good deal. In fact her job paid well enough that he didn’t really need to have a job at all. Yet he worked at Nebula Coffee.

He had worked at the Array Coffee Shop when it had stood in the same location. He had first met Kathryn in college, they had graduated together, and it had been him who had suggested that she look into renting the spot. He had also suggested that she look for a business partner, someone on the other end of the scale to balance out the shop. That had been Chakotay. He stood by the idea of them working together, even now when they seemed to do nothing but fight. In his eyes that much fighting was likely romantic tension. 

So he let them fight, and while they weren’t looking her basically ran the business. It was he that made she the accounts were paid and the lights stayed on. It was he that usually wound up interviewing potential servers and baristas. Or at least that’s what it felt like to him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter has cussing in it. That's what happens when B'Elanna gets angery. Someone gets cussed at.

“I swear if she touches the tea brewer again I’m going to hit her,” B’Elanna Torres said as she folded her arms and glared at Annika Hansen, the new waitresses, who was currently taking orders from customers at the counter.

“You will do no such thing,” Chakotay replied with a stern glare.

”Do you know what she did last time she messed with it?” B’Elanna shot back, ignoring his response almost completely.

“Yes,” Chakotay said with a heavy sigh, it looked like this was going to be one of the barista’s bitch rants and he would not be able to talk her out of it.

“She almost broke the damn thing, we only have the one and we need it for the tea nuts that show up here. I keep telling Kathryn that we need another one, but do you see it anywhere, no, didn’t think so,” she raged at the poor assistant manager. “And then that bitch,” a thumb pointing to Annika, “decides that the thing isn’t efficient enough.” B’Elanna shook her head angrily. “I already have the god-damned thing making a gallon an hour, how much more efficient do you think it could be?”

“Isn’t it suppose to make 2 gallons an hour?” Chakotay said, unable to hold himself back.

“What? That’s if you make the tea really watered down and you know what Kathryn would say if we started watering down the tea,” B’Elanna shot back, glaring at him. Leave it to him to not take her side. She wanted to punch him in the face, but she held back. It felt like she was always holding back.

“Well then make a gallon an hour, I really don’t see what the problem is,” Chakotay replied, he was doing his best to ignore the whole problem and hope it just went away without him.

“Are you trying to piss me off?” B’Elanna demanded scowling at him.

“No, I’m trying to not have another conversation about how you think your coworkers are all morons and should be fired,” Chakotay replied grimly.

“But they all are,” B’Elanna shot back, but smirked all the same. 

“Look, I really don’t care if you have to mess with the tea brewer every day because some one else messed with it before you, just stop threatening to beat up your coworkers, or it might be you who get’s let go,” Chakotay explained calmly.

“Well, the least you could do would be to let me put a sign on the brewer saying not to change the settings,” B’Elanna said calming down a little.

“Do you think it will help?” Chakotay replied.

“It couldn’t hurt,” B’Elanna breathed with a shrug.

“Hey who changed the settings on the tea brewer?” poor dumb Harry Kim said walked up to it and began pressing buttons.

B’Elanna almost screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

There was a loud screeching sound as one of the pressure nozzles of the espresso machine burst and filled the area from counter with steam. 

“Son of a…” B’Elanna said as she jumped the counter and pulled the power cord out of the wall and fanni9ng the steam out of the way so she could get a look at what had broken. “Chakotay!”

There was quite a bit of commotion, yet Chakotay and Kathryn easily made their way to the counter, arriving much at the same time.

“What the devil is going on?” Kathryn asked as she looked over the disaster area caused by the broken machine. Most of the Baristas had hurried out from behind the counter and were not huddled in the corner, all hoping that B’Elanna wouldn’t decide to blame any of them.

“One of the pressure nozzles broke,” B’Elanna replied as she opened the other nozzles to vent the excess steam from the machine. It was hot work, but thanks to a pair of oven mitts and Harry arriving in the knick of time with a fan she was able to work decently fast. “It’s what we get for using a ten year old espresso machine.”

“Can the part be replaced?” Chakotay asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I have a box of them in the back,” B’Elanna grunted as she did her best to pry the broken and still over heated nozzle. As she worked her normally strait hair got curlier and curlier. By the time she got the piece off and tossed onto the counter she had a tangled mess of wet overly curly hair clinging to her head. Her bright red race gleamed with water from the steam and sweat as she sighed and took a step back.

“I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic or not,” Kathryn muttered looking to Chakotay more than a little confused. All he could do was give a resigned shrug, they would find out soon enough anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry Kim stood outside of the staff restroom and did his best to look like he was doing something besides standing guard. He had been told about an hour ago to stand outside the staff restroom and prevent anyone from interrupting them. He felt about as awkward as he ever had, standing there, listing to him and B’Elanna attempting to engage in sexual activities in the tiny staff bathroom. He could hear everything…

And to make matters worse every few minutes Annika would look at him from the front and attempt to mouth a question at him. He would shrug in response and wish he knew how to read lips.

Finally she walked over to him. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked.

“Just standing here… Nothing to worry about…” Harry said doing his best to keep calm and act like nothing was going.

“Tom and B’Elanna are in there, aren’t they?” Annika asked raising an eyebrow.

“Um… Yes,” Harry admitted.

“And they are engaging in sexual activity?” Annika pressed.

“Um… Yeah,” Harry admitted completely unable to look her in the eye.

“And Tom pressed you into standing guard for him, didn’t he?” Annika asked with a sigh.

“Yes,” Harry admitted sounding more ashamed, shifting nervously from one foot to the other foot.

“And you agreed because you wish you were B’Elanna in this situation?” Annika asked.

“Um… n-no,” Harry stammered and looked away.

“Then you wish you were Tom in this situation?” Annika asked tilting 

“What?! No!” Harry replied defensively.

“Then why are you listening so intently?” Annika asked folding her arms giving him a look of confusion.

“Because I’m… I’m not,” Harry stammered. 

“Then answer me one last question and I’ll go away, right?” Annika said realizing that either Harry was tied up in knots or his behavior made no sense.

“Yeah sure,” Harry said with a frustrated sigh.

“Are you in love with Tom Paris?” Annika asked with a quirk of her eyebrow, the scared one. “And do you only hit on me when he’s around to keep him from finding out?”

“What no!” Harry balked. “And even if I was, it wouldn’t matter, he’s with B’Elanna and they are currently happy with that so it doesn’t matter.” He paused and thought for a second. “And of course if I did like him I would probably hit on you to keep him from finding out.”

“I will take that as a yes and simply wish you luck in your future endeavors,” Annika said and lightly patted him on the shoulder.

“Well since you’ve made me uncomfortable, how about you tell me about your relationship with Ms. Janeway?” Harry asked doing hisa best to ignore how embarrassed he was and try to make her just as embarrassed.

“No,” Annika said and simply walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I've been debating on how to deal with the Harry/7 thing that pops up every once in awhile. Also I figured I should hint at something for the Janeway/7 Shippers. I still don't know for sure what the ship are in this so I'm really playing it by ear.


	8. Chapter 8

"The engine is shot," Kathryn guessed as she eyed Tom Paris' recent acquisition with a level of distrust.

"Nope, purrs like a kitten," Tom replied his tone giving away just how pleased with himself he was.

"Someone cut the break line?" Chakotay guessed.

"Nope," replied Tom, as smug as ever.

"You stole it," hazarded B'Elanna.

"Yeah, no. I got it fair and square," Tom replied beginning to wonder if his co-workers thought that little of him.

"Did you get it from your father?" Neelix asked, but a look from Tom shot that idea down.

"You stole it, admit it," B'Elanna prodded.

"I did not, I've been saving up for months," Tom replied exasperated.

"You managed to save up enough to get that?" Harry asked wide eyed. Poor dumb Harry had been putting most of his money into paying off his student loans and now Tom was driving that.

"What are you gonna call it?" Kathryn asked with a smile.

"Well, I was torn between Delta Flyer and Defiant," Tom replied happily.

"Delta Flyer?" asked Chakotay.

"Delta Flyer?" muttered B'Elanna as she shook her head in dismay.

"Delta Flyer, huh?" replied Kathryn.

"They both sound ridiculous," said Annika.

"Who would name a Prius Defiant?" asked Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the Delta Flyer is a Prius. I think the Prius looks oddly like the Deltsa Flyer and it's just funny to imagine it that way.


	9. Chapter 9

“Is that your lipstick?”

The question seemed odd to Annika. “I do not wear lipstick,” she said coldly as she eyed the glittering tube in B'Elanna's hand.

“Then I've got no clue who it belongs to,” B'Elanna replied sounding somewhere between total exasperation and about to laugh.

“Have you tried matching the shade with that worn by the people in the dinning area?” Annika asked raising an eyebrow.

B'Elanna responded to that by simply pulling the cap off of the tube of lipstick and Annika was greeted with a shade of pink that offended her in every way a color could.

“Point taken, now please put the cap back on that thing,” Annika said holding up her hand to block the tube from view. 

“No one I have never seen has ever worn such a horrible shade of lipstick,” B'Elanna said with disgust as she put the cap back on the overly glittery tube. “I found it in the ladies restroom and I've been trying to figure out who it belonged to.”

“So you assumed that I would wear such a shade?” Annika asked coldly.

“Well, I don't know. I know it probably wasn't the Boss, and I know it wasn't Seska, she sticks to darker shades mostly. So I thought it might have been your...” B'Elanna hesitated.

“My what?” Annika asked raising her eyebrow once more.

“Well there's a rumor going around that you date people who wear stuff like this,” B'Elanna said crossing her arms defensively.

“There is a rumor that I am...” Annika began.

“A lesbian, yes,” B'Elanna finished.

Annika scowled at that, but did not say anything.

“Oh my god, you are aren't you?' B'Elanna said sounding honestly surprised.

“A lesbian?' Annika asked, her face moving from angry to mildly confused.

“Yeah, are you?' B'Elanna asked scooting in closer ready to finally get in inside scoop.

There was a long pause as Annika worked through the situation in her mind before finally asking, “Are you implying that you have a romantic interest in me?”

B'Elanna instantly scooted back. “You mean am I hitting on you?” she asked sounding more than a little put on the spot.

“That would be one way top word it,” Annika said with a look of confusion. “I had thought you were strictly heterosexual, your relationship with Mr. Paris seemed to imply that.”

“What... how Dare... I...” B'Elanna sputtered unable to think of how to respond.

“I shall endeavor to keep your secret, put I must inform you that I am not seeking a romantic partner at this moment,” Annika said as she patted B'Elanna on the shoulder. “now if you don't mind I need to do inventory.”

And as Annika left B'Elanna found herself totally dumbstruck. “What the hell just happened?” she asked aloud.

“You just convinced the most socially awkward member of the staff that not only are you secretly into girls, but you have a thing for her,” Tuvok said as he walked past her and grabbed a stack of paper cups from under the counter. “I to shall keep your secret, but I advice you to speak to Mr. Paris about this.”

And as he left B'Elanna could not help herself and shouted, “For the love of crap, I AM NOT A LESBIAN!” as she threw the tube of lipstick into the trash.

***

Out in the main shop Seska was sitting with Kes.

“You will not believe the color of it, it's hideous,” Kes said with a giggle.

“Well, come on let's see it,” Seska said leaning in.

And just as Kes reached into her pocket to discovery that her hideous new tube of lipstick had disappeared the loud voice of one of the Barista's came from the back “I AM NOT A LESBIAN.”

To which Seska immediately shot back. “GIVE IT TIME.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, not much of a punchline, but I did like the idea of B'Elanna asking if one of Kes's lipsticks belongs to Annika (or rather Seven of Nine for those of you who don't know) and the conversation degrading into Annika thinking B'Elanna is hitting on her.  
> I know silly concept, but I liked it.  
> Also I should not that in my head canon Kes collects Hideous shades of lipstick, no clue why, but she does.. 
> 
> Also aslo if any of you have any ideas for things you'd like to see, shoot me a message on my tumblr. madmoody-writes.tumblr.com


	10. Chapter 10

It was a dark and stormy day. No one had so much as seen the sun all day. It was, as Kathryn had observed when she opened the cafe that morning, the perfect day for coffee. And yet there were no customers.

For the staff of Nebula Coffee spent the day sipping free lattes and chatting. Harry was sitting with Tom, who was casting seductive glances to B'Elanna, who in turn was trying to convince Chakotay to buy a new steamer. Kathryn was trying another one of Neelix's sticky buns while reading the morning paper. All in all a nice quiet day. Business had been good recently and a quiet day was almost as good as a day off. 

When Kes showed up in the mid afternoon everyone was happy to at least have a single customer As Kes dried herself and ordered a tall cafe mocha with carmel drizzle so glanced around at the staff. Her expression was noticeably downtrodden. 

"So, how are you guys handling the competition?" she asked after she took a sip of her drink once Harry had finished making it. Harry was best at the more flavorful drinks, the type that Kathryn would never drink.

"Competition?" Kathryn and Chakotay said at the same time. As they got up and walked over to her they looked at each other and then back at Kes.

Kes pointed out the front window.

In a flash the assembled staff was at the window peering out. In the gloom they could clearly see the billboard that covered the vacant lot across the street,it's bright green letter unmissable. "Coming soon, STARBORGS," Harry read aloud.

"Well... Shit," Kathryn said as she folder her arms and frowned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STARBORGS! Perpare for all individual coffee to be assimilated.


	11. Chapter 11

The dining area of Nebula Coffee was all but empty. Only a few regular’s remained, sipping their coffee. Some read books and some had hushed conversations. Most had ordered the endless cup of coffee, lovingly called Replicator Cup because it never seemed to stay empty long. It was little more than a cup of black coffee, but it was Nebula Coffee’s coffee which meant it was damn good.

Kathy glared at the lack of people. She counted the empty seats and frowned some more. She paced behind the counter. Her entire business was about to go belly up and there was little she could do. StarBorgs Coffee had seen to her ruination and she knew she could not outlast the chain coffee shop. They had 5 spots in town and one of those was right across the street from her place. She loathed them. She was so upset that none of the staff even so much as spoke to her.

And then she heard the voice of the chef. “I am beginning to think that we should add a few new drinks to the menu,” Neelix said walking up to her with a small pad of paper.

“What?” Kathy asked suddenly aware of the tall black man standing beside her.

“Myself, and some of the other staff, were thinking it might be a good idea to add some new selections to the menu,” he said with a bright smile.

“Like what?” Kathy asked with a heavy sigh. She had dreaded the day when the signature coffee would no longer be enough, she hated the idea of having to add flavors to coffee just to sell it.

“It is my opinion that as the store across the street...”

“StarBorgs?” Kathy cut in.

“Yes, as they sell drinks aligned with the holidays it might be a good idea for us to do the same,” Neelix said.

“You want me to sell Christmas Themed Coffee?” Kathy said incredulously.

“Nope,” Neelix replied simply.

Kathy was surprized. “No? But you said holiday themed drinks,” she said becoming quite confused.

“Indeed I did, but I think it would be a better idea to sell something a bit more abstract. Personally I recommend we sell Hanukkah themed and Kwanzaa themed drinks,” Neelix replied.

“So you want to focus on the Niche markets?”

“Indeed.”

“No,” Kathy said with a note of finality.

“May I ask why?” Neelix asked a bit confused.

“I will not turn my shop into some niche market appeal joke just to get more customers,” Kathy said almost defiantly.

“How about putting a Pumpkin Spice Muffin on the menu and pairing it with a nice Pumpkin Spice Coffee?” Neelix asked with a wide smile.

“Can you make Pumpkin Spice Muffins?” Kathy asked giving the chef in unsure look.

“Well it should be a lot like Leola Root Spice Muffins and those sell like hot cakes,” Neelix replied.

“The answer is still no,” Kathy said and walked away from the chef. She was not going to give into the craze. She would have to stand her ground.

It was then that Tuvok walked up. “Miss Janeway, the supplier sent us a large shipment of Pumpkin Spice Coffee. Apparently there was a mistake. We can send it back and get the regular blend, but it will cost us shipping and at our current rate of coffee consumption without another shipment we will run out before the new shipment arrives,” he said calmly.

Kathy was once more incredulous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back!


End file.
